Friday, May 21, 2010

It's the Pitts

I've been a fan of Dale Keown's artwork since I first saw it in an ad for subscriptions to the Hulk comic book series in the backs of Marvel comic books. He started drawing the Hulk in 1990 and carried on until 1993. He moved over with the rest of the guys who founded Image comics and started publishing a series based on his original character, Pitt. I collected the first few issues of Pitt, but the comic book stores around here kind of dried up. I wasn't able to keep up with the series, and I kind of lost touch with the character and with the art of Dale Keown. I'd see him do a cover here and there, but he didn't do anything regularly for a long, long time.

A couple of years ago Marvel Toys (Formerly ToyBiz) came out with a series of action figures based on all kinds of comic book characters from various publishers. From The Savage Dragon to Judge Dread, the Legendary Comic Book Heroes line covered a wide range of characters. All of the figures were beautifully done, but ultimately they were so obscure to the average kid that the line didn't really do all that well. The figures rotted on the shelves and eventually slithered off into clearance hell(if you could actually find them in your area-- distribution was baaaaad on these guys). One of the coolest things about the series was the fact that each figure in the line came with a piece of a figure that was too large to be a regular run character. The first series was, of all characters, Pitt. He suddenly became my Holy Grail, and I went from store to store trying to find all the parts of the figure. Sadly, only a few places near where I live ever carried the figures, and none of them ever had all the pieces to make Pitt. I just kind of gave up on the idea of ever building the figure. Buying him on eBay was another nightmare, because everyone else seemed to have the same idea.

Just a few weeks ago, however, I traded with George on the October Toys Forum and finally got my Pitt! WHOOPIE!!! I like saying that. WHOOPIE!!!

So... how do I feel about this sucker now that I have him? Lemme show you:

That was my face when I got Pitt in the mail. He's every bit as awesome as I thought he would be!

This is one huge monkey!

He stands only 10.5 inches tall, but he looks like he's much bigger. It's the width of the figure that pulls off the illusion. He's almost as wide as he is tall, and everything about him is thick and meaty! He's heavy as a dead cat and twice as poseable. So let's get into the specifics:

Sculpt: Absolutely freakin' incredible! This guy looks like he stepped out of Dale Keown's artwork and came to life. Dale's work is known for its extreme detail, and the figure is exactly the same. Every vein and pore on this thing is sculpted in loving detail. The folds in his skin and the hairs on his head are reproduced with insane accuracy. The detail on the clothes is amazing as well, with all the folds and creases and rips and tears that the comic book character has. The chains and locks are sculpted as individual, moving pieces-- it's just insane!

Paint: If only every large-run toy was painted as well as this one is. There are multiple paint applications on every part of the figure. Sprays and washes are used to give the sculpt depth and weight, and none of them are excessive or distracting. This is how it should be done!

Articulation: YOWZERS! This dude can do anything! He's super-poseable, and most of the major joints are the clicking kind that allow the poses to be held indefinitely. Even his hands are super-articulated!!! Each one of his fingers has two joints, which is just crazy! It gives the toy a lot of character and allows you to create some very expressive hand poses.

So yeah... this sucker is awesome. He's just about my most favorite toy I have ever owned. After having owned him for just a short time I'd have to say he's be worth every penny that he costs on eBay. He's fun to fiddle around with, and he looks fantastic on the shelf with little Timmy standing next to him.

Best of all? He makes all your other regular toys look really tiny and inadequate!!!